


a night at the arcade

by Burningcities



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Arcades, Fake/Pretend Relationship, First Dates, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, fake date, kind of, not really - Freeform, you know Kuroo is gonna take Kenma to an arcade on their first date
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-10
Updated: 2020-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:22:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23097037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burningcities/pseuds/Burningcities
Summary: “Hey, I have an idea.”Kenma looks up again and shakes his head immediately. “No.”“Aw, come one, you don’t even know what I’m gonna say yet.”“I know that face. That’s the face you make when you have an exceptionally bad idea.”“Excuse you, this is one of the best ideas I’ve had in a long time.” Kuroo looks affronted, and Kenma knows he’s just going to keep on pushing this until Kenma caves, or at least until he humors Kuroo and listens to the plan.“Fine, shoot.” He says drily, looking into dark eyes with a bored expression.The catlike grin on Kuroo’s face is enough to make him want to take back his words.“Kenma, do you want to go out with me?”//OR: Kuroo tricks Kenma into going on a date with him.
Relationships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou
Comments: 8
Kudos: 125





	a night at the arcade

**Author's Note:**

> honestly, i just love Kuroo so much and i ship him with just about everyone in this show.  
> this is 100% self indulgent but i don't even care. Hope you enjoy!  
> xxx AJ

Kuroo drops himself down onto the bed with a dramatic sigh. Kenma barely even looks up from the screen of his Nintendo Switch as Kuroo heaves another sigh, obviously trying to get a reaction from his best friend.

“Did you fall in love yet?” Kenma deadpans, finally pausing his game to pin him with a pointed look.

This just causes him to groan. “ _No_. And it wasn’t like she even liked me after anyways. She told me it was great and that she’d love to be _friends_. Seriously, what am I doing wrong here?”

Kuroo turns his head so he’s facing him, half of his face buried in the covers on the bed as he stares up at him, and Kenma hides his blush by diving back into his game, shrugging.

Really, he has no idea why all these girls keep rejecting Kuroo after one date. It’s their loss, though. Obviously.

“Hey, I have an idea.”

Kenma looks up again and shakes his head immediately. “No.”

“Aw, come one, you don’t even know what I’m gonna say yet.”

“I know that face. That’s the face you make when you have an exceptionally bad idea.”

“Excuse you, this is one of the best ideas I’ve had in a long time.” Kuroo looks affronted, and Kenma knows he’s just going to keep on pushing this until Kenma caves, or at least until he humors Kuroo and listens to the plan.

“Fine, shoot.” He says drily, looking into dark eyes with a bored expression.

The catlike grin on Kuroo’s face is enough to make him want to take back his words.

“Kenma, do you want to go out with me?”

his heart barely has time to skip a beat before Kuroo clarifies. “I mean, so you can give me feedback. I’ll plan a date, we’ll go out, and at the end of the evening, you can tell me what I did wrong! I can never ask that after a real date, so this would be a great learning experience!” Kuroo’s voice is getting louder, riling himself up as he talked. “You’ll do it, right Kenma? You’ll help me?”

Kenma knows this is a bad idea. He knows, objectively, that going out with his best friend, on whom he’s had a crush for _years,_ just to tell him how to improve for other people, would be painful at best. The thing is, as he is looking at Kuroo’s big, hopeful eyes, he can’t bring himself to say no.

And so, he lets his eyes drift back to the screen, where his avatar is still frozen, and shrugs again.

“Sure,” he says softly, without emotion, like it wouldn’t make a difference to him either way.

He feels Kuroo’s eyes burn on the side of his face, trying to read his expression. For all his bravado, Kuroo hadn’t expected him to actually agree, and Kenma knows this.

He tells himself he’s only agreeing to this because he wants to help his best friend. No ulterior motive at all.

***

 _This was definitely a mistake,_ Kenma thinks next Friday, when he opens the door to reveal Kuroo, dressed in a button up of all things, and _oh god,_ has he actually _styled his hair_?

Kenma swallows harshly when Kuroo shoots him a lazy grin.

“Are you ready to go?”

He nods silently, grabbing a jacket before closing the door behind him, and follows after Kuroo.

“Where are we going?” It’s still too early for dinner, and Kenma was never really interested enough to figure out what else could be done on dates.

“It’s a surprise,” Kuroo wiggles his eyebrows, laughing at Kenma’s unimpressed expression and the huff he lets out.

“Relax, I promise you’ll like it.”

The walk to wherever they’re going is easy. It’s always easy between them, Kenma thinks as he listens to Kuroo’s mindless chatter about volleyball, school, and the release of the sequel to a game he knows Kenma has been playing.

Kenma himself doesn’t say much, humming along to the stories and occasionally commenting when he knows Kuroo expects him to. This isn’t anything they don’t usually do though. Their walk to school would be indistinguishable from this, and this is supposed to be a date. It’s supposed to be a polar opposite of what they always do.

This date is going to wreck the last of Kenma’s grip on his feelings for his childhood friend. That’s just great.

He’s still thinking about how this date is going to ruin him when Kuroo stops walking, gently grabbing Kenma’s wrist and tugging him to a halt in front of a door.

Whatever this place is, it looks… loud. Even without hearing any sounds from inside, the blinking neon signs in the windows are enough to give Kenma a spontaneous headache.

He’s seriously questioning what in the world would possess Kuroo for him to think that Kenma would actually enjoy this place, until he actually bothers to read one of the flickering signs.

“An arcade?” He asks softly, trying and failing to suppress the flutter of his heart at the thought that Kuroo had actually _put thought into this_ , no matter what he’d previously said.

Kuroo just grins at Kenma’s furrowed eyebrows, grabbing his hand and pulling him through the door.

 _This isn’t real,_ Kenma tries to remind himself when Kuroo doesn’t let go, even when they stop walking. 

Inside it isn’t nearly as busy as Kenma would’ve expected for a Friday afternoon, with only a couple of giggling girls hanging around _Dance Dance Revolution_ and one guy watching as his friend curses at the _Space Invaders_ machine.

Kuroo eyes Kenma as he looks around at all the games appreciatively, most of them from the seventies and the eighties.

He’s so consumed by the sheer awesomeness of the retro machines and how well kept all of them are, he completely forgets Kuroo’s still holding his hand until he squeezes gently, causing Kenma to meet his gaze.

Kuroo just stares at him with soft eyes, and Kenma uses the grip he has on his friend to pull him towards the _Ms. Pac-Man_ machine, effectively hiding the blush that has started to bloom high on his cheeks.

It is surprisingly easy to pretend it’s real. Kenma decides to indulge himself, just for tonight. Maybe it’ll give him some closure. Yes, he’ll enjoy tonight, and then he’ll let go of his feelings.

They spend the entire afternoon moving from game to game, Kuroo mostly watching over Kenma’s shoulder and occasionally resting his chin on top of Kenma’s head, his hands on the edges of the machines to form a barrier around Kenma and the rest of the arcade.

Kenma tries his best not to revel too much.

Kuroo eventually manages to drag him to the _Dance Dance Revolution_ machine, Kenma watching as he dances against the guy that was playing _Space Invaders_ earlier.

After winning the game, Kuroo grins widely at Kenma, throwing his arm over his shoulders and steering him in the direction of the diner across the street, both of them ordering burgers and fries.

They keep talking all through dinner and the walk home, Kuroo occasionally prodding Kenma for answers that aren’t monosyllable until Kenma starts to talk without the prompting.

When they stop in front of their houses, Kuroo turns to look down at him expectantly.

Kenma’s heart flutters in his chest for a moment, until he realizes he’s probably waiting for the feedback.

The reality of the situation comes rushing back to him, a bitter taste at the back of Kenma’s throat as he tries to come up with a way to assure his friend that this was the best date Kenma could’ve imagined, without sounding absolutely smitten.

They stare at each other for what might be either three minutes or three hours, until Kuroo raises his hand hesitantly, cupping Kenma’s jaw.

Kenma closes his eyes, using all his willpower not to lean into the touch. Kuroo has always been abnormally touchy, this doesn’t mean anything.

‘Kenma,’ he whispers, moving his thumb along Kenma’s cheekbone in gentle strokes.

As soon as he opens his eyes, Kenma is met with the soft smile he is so familiar with. Kuroo stares at him for a few moments longer, before slowly moving in, giving Kenma more than enough time to move away.

He doesn’t.

The kiss is short, more of a lingering peck really, but it’s perfect.

When they lean back to look at each other, Kenma takes in the flush on his friend’s cheeks before speaking. “This wasn’t about feedback, was it?” he says accusatory.

Kuroo shook his head with a small grin. “Finally, he gets it.” Kenma just raises his eyebrows, prompting him to keep going. “Fine, I wanted to ask you out for a while now. I’d finally build up the courage, but I chickened out when I was actually looking at your face. Though maybe you could give me some feedback tomorrow, if we’re gonna keep doing this.”

“Keep… doing this?”

“Yeah,” Kuroo tilts his head, looking so innocent and vulnerable for a moment. “I mean, if you want to.”

“Yes,” Kenma breathes, maybe embarrassingly fast, but he can’t bring himself to care. He stands on his tiptoes to press another quick peck to Kuroo’s lips, reveling in the awestruck grin on his face when they pull back.

“See you tomorrow, Kuroo.”

“Yeah, tomorrow.”

Kenma quickly turns around to enter his house, unable to get the content smile from his face.

**Author's Note:**

> I really hoped you liked this! please let me know what you thought :))


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